Teaching music to students with differences and disabilities, 2026

  Supporting Sensory Disabilities in the Music Classroom Marissa McFarren Why I Chose This Domain I chose to focus on sensory disabilities because the music classroom is inherently a highly sensory environment. As a band director, I regularly see students who struggle with noise levels, movement, and organization, yet these challenges are often misunderstood as lack of effort or engagement. Additionally, students with sensory avoidant behaviors are usually the ones that are purposefully steered away from music to avoid triggers. I wanted to better understand how sensory processing impacts student learning and how music, rather than being a barrier, can actually serve as a powerful support system. Description of the Disability Sensory disabilities, often discussed in connection with conditions like autism spectrum disorder, involve differences in how the brain processes sensory input such as sound, touch, and movement. According to course materials, students may be sensory-seeking ...

Behavior as a Disability I chose the Behavior Domain because behaviors are something that all of us as educators have, but we may not always think of it as a disability. This past year, I have had experiences with multiple students that have behavior disorders in my music classes, and it has truly opened my eyes to some behaviors being as a part of a disability, not always being on the fault of bad choices by the student. I have had successes, and failures, and want to explore those experiences and relate them to what I’m learning. I also have personal attachment, as I was once the student that would be constantly in the principals office in elementary school due to my ADHD leading me to more and more behavior issues. Many students go through the day trying to learn, but when they fall off track, they are met with negative consequence after negative consequence instead of redirection or encouragement, and are thus spiraled into worsening behavior due to their ADHD and other behavioral ...

  Physical/Medical Domain           I have chosen to focus on the physical/medical domain because I have a personal interest in this domain. My father has bilateral optic nerve hypoplasia, which means that his optic nerves are underdeveloped. This is a congenital condition, meaning he has lived this way his entire life. With this condition, he also struggles with nystagmus, the inability to control the movement of his eyes.           When I tell people that my father is blind, they immediately imagine that he sees total darkness. Blindness, like many other disabilities, is a spectrum. According to the Iowa Department for the Blind, only around 18% of people who are legally blind are classified as being totally blind ( https://blind.iowa.gov/resources-and-publications/misconceptions-about-blindness ). The way that I typically describe my father's blindness to others is like a blurry watercolor painting. He can see color, bu...

  Why I Chose This Domain :  I chose the disability domain of Physical/Medical, because I do not have any formal or personal experience with students with severe physical disabilities. I have witnessed a few encounters, and have experience with students with poor motor control, mild learning disabilities, and a student with epilepsy. If I had a student with physical disabilities in private one-on-one lessons, I am 100% confident that I could find a unique pathway for them. In a classroom setting, I would need much more help.  The reality is that there is far more research on autism and developmental disabilities than physical disabilities.  I have one student who is epileptic and has had seizures in the past. She is bright and motivated, but is very slow in music class since that time is used to help her catch up in other classes.  I have a young cellist who broke her finger. I love to separate left and right hands to work on different skills, but this is tempor...

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